GAME REPORT

Besiktas Rally To Edge BC NN In Thriller

Pops Mensah-Bonsu had already contributed 27 points to Besiktas when he scored the winning basket, two seconds from time

Besiktas followed up their historic first Turkish Cup win at the weekend by edging out Nizhny Novgorod 82-80 at the death to keep up their push for first place in Group K of the EuroChallenge.

Perhaps suffering a hangover from Saturday's exertions, Besiktas emerged from the first quarter trailing 26-13 but rallied to force a tense finish, snatching victory thanks to a dunk from Great Britain international Pops Mensah-Bonsu with just two seconds left on the clock.

The dramatic closing stages came thanks to a huge rally from the hosts at the start of the second quarter as they erased their earlier struggles, reeling off a 12-2 run capped by a tip-in from Mensah-Bonsu, to get back in the game, 28-25.

The visitors began to pull clear again but could not regain their early level of dominance as Besiktas stuck with them, and a 6-0 run drew them level, 74-74, on a pair of Mensah-Bonsu free-throws before Carlos Arroyo's lay-up gave them a rare lead with 2:53 to go.

Artem Yakovenko made a lay-up to tie it but Arroyo made it 79-76 with a lay-up and a free-throw with 1:41 remaining.

Semen Antonov's jump-shot cut the gap and after Arroyo missed a jumper, Novgorod were back in front as Antonov sank a pair of free throws.

David Hawkins got to the line for the hosts but could only split his throws, leaving it tied with 12 ticks left, and everything was in the hands of the visitors.

But Yakovenko missed a three-pointer and then committed a crucial turnover, allowing Mensah-Bonsu a dramatic dunk to win it.

Mensah-Bonsu finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds, while Hawkins added 26 points and Ersin Dagli had 11 points and 13 boards for the victors.

Antonov led BC NN with 18 points while Nemanja Protic had 14 and Yakovenko had 12.

COACH QUOTES

Quotes Besiktas Milangaz vs. BC NN

BC NN Head Coach Zoran Lukıc "Besiktas had concetration problems, we had problems under the basket but we controlled the game. We lost the game in the last 3 seconds."

Besiktas Head Coach Ergin Ataman "We didn't play well tonight, but it's nice to keep the leadership battle for the last game. Fist reason for this bad game was exhaustion from the games that we played in a row in theTurkish Cup. We played three very hard games. The second reason for this bad game was loss of concentration. The only thing that can make us play good was the fans today. Everybody relaxed after the Cup, both the team and the fans. BC NN was eliminated but they played very well."

BC NN player Aliaksandr Pustahvar"Besiktaş Milangaz couldn't control the game , we played very well for 33 minutes but could not finish the game like this. Congratulations to Besiktas."

Besiktas player Adem Ören "As the Cup-winning team we were expecting more fans in the arena but there were not. This was one of the reason for our bad game, but it's nice to win."